072 



HISTORY OF THE VEGETABLE KINGOOM. 



checked by tlie Wiint of a free comiminication of 

 ttir, tends to render the woody fibre soluble, 

 without occasioning the rapid dissipation of 

 clastic matter. When old pastures are broken 

 up and turned into garden ground, not only has 

 the soil been enriched by the death and slow 

 decay of the plants which have left soluble niat- 

 tera in the soil, b\it the leaves and roots of the 

 grasses living at the time, and occupying so large 

 a part of the surface, afford saccharine, mucila- 

 ginous, and extractive matters, which become 

 immediately the food of tlie crop, and from tlieir 

 gradual decomposition afford a supply for suc- 

 cessive years. 



Rape cake and lintseed caTce contain a large 

 quantity of mucilage, some albuminous matter, 

 and oil. This kind of manure should be used 

 recent, and kept as dry as possible before it is 

 applied. 



Malt dust consists chiefly of the incipient 

 germ which is separated from the grain, in the 

 process of turning and drying the malt. It is 

 a strong manure, probably from containing a 

 portion of saccharine matter, and, like the last, 

 should be used in its recent and dry state. 



Sea weeds. The different kinds oifuci, aJg(f, 

 and conifer/B are largely employed as manures 

 on the sea coasts of Britain and Ireland. In the 

 north of Scotland and Orkney islands, the sea 

 tang (fucus digitatus,) is genei'ally used on 

 account of its greater substance. When driven 

 on shore by tlie winter storms or gales of spring, 

 it is collected and laid on the land, and then 

 ploughed down. It is a powerful manure, but 

 its benefits do not extend beyond one, or at most 

 two seasons. By dilution in water, the fuci 

 yield a large proportion of mucilage and by dis- 

 tillation water, but no ammonia; tlie residue 

 contains carbonaceous matter, with sea salt and 

 carbonate of soda. Sea weed is sometimes suf- 

 fered to ferment before it is used, but this pro- 

 cess seems wholly unnecessary, for there is no 

 fibrous matter rendered soluble in the process, 

 and a part of the manure is lost. The best me- 

 thod is to use it as fresh as it can be procured. 

 Some sea weed which had been fermented, so as 

 to have lost about half its weight, afforded less 

 tlian one-twelfth of mucilaginous matter ; from 

 which it may be fairly concluded, that some of 

 this substance is destroyed in fermentation. 



Peat earth. This substance remains for years 

 exposed to water and air without undergoing 

 change, and in this inert state yields little or no 

 nourishment to plants. Mere woody fibre will 

 not decompose, uifless some substances are mixed 

 with it, wliich act the same part as the muci- 

 lage, sugar, and extractive or albuminous mat- 

 ters with which it is usually associated in herbs 

 and succulent vegetables. Thus, a mixture of 

 common farm-yard dung and peat earth will 

 ferment readily, or any otlier species of putres- 



cible substance will answer the same purpose. 

 One part of dung is thus found to promote the 

 fermentation of three parts of peat. In cases in 

 which living vegetables are mixed with the peat, 

 the fermentation will be more readily effected. 



Tanners' spent bark, wood shavings, or other 

 vegetable fibre, will probably require as much 

 dung to bring them into fermentation as tlic 

 worst kinds of peat. Woody fibre may also be 

 pre|)ared so as to become a manure by the action 

 of lime. 



Wood ashes imperfectly formed, that is, con- 

 taining much charcoal, are said to have been used 

 with success as a manui'e, A part of their effects 

 maybe owing to the slow and gradual consump- 

 tion of the charcoal, which seems capal)le under 

 other circumstances than those of actual combus- 

 tion, of absorbing oxygen so as to become carbonic 

 acid. Yeast is one of the most powerful and 

 durable of manures, but from its expense can of 

 course be little used in this way. It imparts a 

 very vivid green to auriculas.* 



Animal manures. These substances in gene- 

 ral require no chemical preparation to fit them 

 for the soil. The great object is to blend them 

 with the earthy constituents in a proper state of 

 division, and to prevent their too I'apid decom- 

 position. Horses, dogs, or other large animals 

 that have died, sliould be covered up with five or 

 six times their bulk of soil, mixed with one part 

 of lime, and allowed to decompose in this way 

 for a few months, till the soil is impregnated 

 ^Yitll fertilizing juices. At the time of digging 

 up this dunghill, the addition of a little quick- 

 lime will destroy the nauseous smell. 



Fish. These also afford a rich manure, and 

 should be applied to the ground as soon as pos- 

 sible, as their decomposition is more rapid than 

 that of land animals. The quantity, however, 

 should be limited. 



A. Young records an experiment, in which 

 herrings spread over a field and ploughed in for 

 wheat, produced so rank a crop, that it was en- 

 tirely laid before harvest. The refuse of pil- 

 cherds are used in Cornwall, mixed with sand 

 and soil ; and in Lincolnshire and other marshy 

 counties of England, the common stickleback, 

 found in abundance in the shallow waters, is 

 used for a similar purpose. 



Bones of animals are now much used as a 

 manure both in England and Scotland, and their 

 use is spreading rapidly over the continent. 

 They are ground in a mill, and reduced to .i 

 coarse powder, and then strewed on the soil. 

 Tliis substance is best adapted for a dry soil. 



Jlom, hair, and the refuse of skin and Icatlier 

 manufactures, are all useful manures. 



Urine, Hood, and other liquid animal matters, 

 if preserved in pits or boxes, also prove highly 



* Luudoii. 



